The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No, 10-206935 filed on Jul. 22, 1998 including specification, claims, drawings and summary are incorporated herein by reference in its entirely.
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an image display device, an image display method, and a storage medium in which its program is stored.
2. Description of Related Art
In the prior art, a vehicle navigation system wherein if a destination is set by an operator, a route from a position where a vehicle is currently located, namely a present position, to the destination is searched and route guidance is performed on the basis of the searched route.
Therefore, the navigation system is equipped with a display, and menu screens such as an initial screen for setting a destination, a genre screen, a street selection screen, a city selection screen, an instruction start screen, etc., which are opened in the display. Thus, the operator can select predetermined items in respective menu screens.
For example, in the initial screen, a destination can be selected by genre, address, telephone number, memory point, etc. If a cursor destination is selected by genre, the operator moves a cursor to xe2x80x9cgenrexe2x80x9d by operating a cursor knob, presses an input key, and the genre selection screen is opened.
Then, in the genre selection menu, a destination can be selected by city, station, airport, ferry terminal, hotel, restaurant, etc. For example, if the operator selects a destination by street, the operator moves the cursor to city by operating the knob, presses the input key, and the city selection screen is opened.
In the city selection screen, a destination can be selected by city name. Therefore, a plurality of city names are displayed in respective rows. Then, the operator moves the cursor to a predetermined city name by operating the knob, presses the input key, and the city is selected. Then, at the same time, a street selection screen is opened.
In the street selection screen, a destination can be selected by street name. Therefore, a plurality of street names are displayed in respective rows on the street-selection screen. Then, the operator moves the cursor to a predetermined street name by operating the knob, presses the input key, and the street is selected. Then, at the same time, an instruction start screen is opened.
On the instruction start screen, a message to promote an instruction for starting route guidance from a present position to a set destination is displayed. Then, the operator presses the input key, a destination corresponding to the selected city and street is set, and at the same time, the present position and the peripheral map around the present position are displayed on the display. Next, route guidance is started.
However, in the above navigation system, if a large number of characters are displayed on respective menu screens, such as, for example, a city, street, etc., having a long name, the name cannot fit in one row within the menu screen. This is especially true in a small type of navigation system.
In that case, the operator cannot set a destination correctly because names of city, street, etc., have to be identified solely by the portion fit in one row or, for example, the first half of the name.
Therefore, it is thought that the operator scrolls names of the selected city, street, etc., on the menu screen by pressing a predetermined key, thereby the last half of the name is made to be displayed. However, as the last half of the name is displayed, the first portion of the name disappears from the menu screen, and as a result, the operator is not able to see the entire character string of the name.
This invention provides an image display device, an image display method, and a storage medium in which programs are stored, wherein the problem of the prior navigation system is resolved by having a capability of setting a destination correctly and increasing the visibility of items on the screen.
In order to solve the above problem, an image display device of the invention includes an information storage device in which names of destination are stored, an input device, a name obtaining unit for obtaining names from the information storage device on the basis of the operation of an input device, a display device for displaying character strings on a menu screen, a name display unit for displaying the obtained names by the name obtaining unit, respectively, in a plurality of display areas set on the menu screen, and a display change unit for displaying character strings of names, respectively, in a plurality of rows if it is determined that character strings of names to be displayed do not fit, respectively, in the display areas.
Another image display device of the invention further includes a command for specifying a display area on a menu screen, and a communication device for transmitting character string data in order to display character strings.
The display change unit changes the display area specified by the command into a plurality of areas if the character string of a name to be displayed does not fit in the display area.
The invention may further include an image memory in which a screenful of image data of a menu screen is stored. The display change unit manipulates image data within the image memory if character strings of names do not fit, respectively, in the display areas.
An image display method of the invention includes the steps of obtaining names of destinations from an information storage device on the basis of the operation of an input device, displaying the obtained names, respectively, in a plurality of display areas set on a menu screen, and determining whether character strings of names to be displayed can fit in the display areas and displaying character strings of names, respectively, in a plurality of rows if they do not fit in the display areas.
A storage medium of the invention stores a program including the steps of obtaining destination names from the information storage device on the basis of the operation of the input device, displaying the obtained names in respective rows in a plurality of display areas set on a menu screen, and determining whether character strings of names to be displayed fit in the display areas and displaying character strings of names, respectively, in a plurality of rows if they do not fit in the display areas.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.